Border Security Needs Clear, Adequately Funded Plan

Admiral Jay Cohen, the new Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Science and Technology, testified before the House Science Committee last week that the Department would increase its investments in longer-term research that could augment border security.

Cohen was responding to concerns expressed by witnesses and by Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) that the DHS Science and Technology Directorate had been neglecting longer-range research.

The non-governmental witnesses at the hearing were G. Daniel Tyler, head of the National Security Technology Division at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Peter Worch, an independent consultant who is a member of the Air Force Science Advisory Board; Dr. Gervasio Prado, President of Sentech, Inc.; and Dr. Gregory Pottie, Associate Dean for Research and Physical Resources at UCLA.

All of the witnesses emphasized the need to develop and deploy the technology in a way that took into account the border patrol personnel who would use and respond to it.

In his opening statement Boehlert expressed concern about the adequacy of DHS investment in border security research, saying, "My sense is that we haven't done a very good job of that so far. We haven't methodically thought through what technology to deploy, how to deploy it, and how to integrate it with the people who will actually be apprehending those trying to cross the border illegally. We haven't come up with a clear, adequately funded plan to conduct the research needed to improve existing technologies and create new ones. And in Congress, we haven't thought comprehensively about border security, instead focusing on massive public works projects, like border fences."

Boehlert also reminded Cohen that the legislation establishing the Science and Technology Directorate at DHS was written by the Science Committee.

Cohen testified that he was reorganizing the Directorate along the lines of ongoing themes rather than individual, short-term projects.